Football coach interviews at UH today

Veteran assistant football coaches George Lumpkin and Greg McMackin were scheduled to interview today for the Hawaii head coach position vacated by their former boss, June Jones, a source close to the situation said.

UH will likely announce a choice tomorrow.

McMackin, who was Jones' defensive coordinator in a 9-4 season in 1999 and 12-1 this past year, is widely considered the leading candidate.

Lumpkin has coached at UH 35 years. The associate head coach handled the Warriors defensive ends last season. He has previously served as defensive coordinator at UH twice, and was acting head coach for several months in the offseason when Jones nearly died in a 2001 car accident.

If the selection committee makes a choice, it will be forwarded for approval by the Board of Regents in a special meeting Friday. Also at that meeting, it is expected acting athletic director Carl Clapp will be approved as interim AD.

Sources said the new head coach's salary would be around $1.1 million per year, and a five-year contract is likely.

Lumpkin did not return several messages yesterday. McMackin was reached on the Big Island, after playing in a football booster golf tournament. He declined to discuss the job opening.

The event was the last such for Jones, who left afterward for his new job as Southern Methodist head coach.

Also, the football team was scheduled to be addressed by Manoa chancellor Virginia Hinshaw today.